Horizon
by Kherezae
Summary: Riku was all darkness where Sora was light. They could never meet; they only existed in contrast, and where one went the other retreated. :: Soriku, Akuroku, post-KH2; the nature of the Keyblade, with the worlds at stake.
1. prelude

**author's note**

This story is set after Kingdom Hearts 2. It ignores any games but KH1 and KH: CoM. It ships Sora/Riku and Roxas/Axel, and in fact assumes that Axel is Riku's Nobody. Of course the setting and characters do not belong to me.

* * *

**p**relude

**p**ost castle oblivion »

There was a sudden snapping feeling, like some stretched part of Ienzo's being had finally broken and returned to himself. Just the sensation for an instant; then flashes of memory, foreign but still _his_, burst starbright into his thoughts, pounding sharply at his temples.

_There had been another part of him all along, linked only by the thinnest strand of the soul they still shared. The shell, __**Zexion**__…. They were alike, but different. Ienzo had become a Heartless, but Zexion was _without a heart_, not even a whole person, a __**Nobody**__._

Suddenly he was Ienzo, but with Zexion present inside him, in memories and in a cold voice curling at the back of his mind.

Zexion was curious. An image coalesced mist-like in Ienzo's thoughts: a white-stone room filled with thirteen markers, all glowing blue. And because Ienzo was curious, as well, he obliged. Darkness pooled beneath his feet, icy black tendrils climbing his legs, and in a moment the portal swallowed him. He traveled through the suffocating black in-between (the journey as uncomfortable as always, but something he was used to) until Zexion rang with the familiar resonance of the room in the vision he had given Ienzo.

The darkness loosed him into the stark white contrast of Proof of Existence. Thirteen stone markers stood melancholy testimony to the Organization that never should have existed.

They weren't all blue now, though. The markers of Vexen, Lexaeus, Larxene, and Marluxia were a dull red. Ienzo knew the names because Zexion knew them; he also recognized Vexen and Lexaeus as being to Even and Elaeus what Zexion was to him. Zexion's marker, however… it had turned purple.

_Destroy it,_ Zexion whispered.

Ienzo nodded grimly and raised his weapon.

**p**ost door to the light »

"I've seen him destroyed twice," Ienzo mused. Axel stood in the alley below, lit harshly in neon glow and clearly struggling to regain his senses. The other three Wraiths were with him; Lourd and Vane lounged against the stone wall of the building while Braig stood rigid and thoughtful, watching Axel with the same intense curiosity Ienzo displayed.

"He isn't like us," Braig said. "Nor like the others."

"We still existed when our shells were destroyed," Vane pointed out. Dry laughter perpetually tainted his voice. He was so like Saïx, and yet so different; he was like a Saïx who only possessed the berserk half of his nature, not the reserved, serious part the Nobody had nearly always displayed. "The others' Heartless were destroyed long before their shells were."

Ienzo nodded. He had been thinking the same thing: for Axel there must exist somewhere another half, but it wasn't a Heartless. And if it wasn't heartless and it wasn't nothing at all, then it must be… whole. "He must be as Roxas was," he said. "But Roxas met his other half. Axel… hasn't."

Shadows began pooling around Axel, growing and forming into solid shapes. The effect was subtle, and Ienzo had to watch closely to be sure he wasn't imagining things; the blazing neon lighting of the city fluctuated, which made the shadows that were born where the light ended deceptive. But the darkness bloomed, and glowing golden eyes punctuated it, all of them fixed on Axel. It was all wrong.

The heartless did not come after nobodies. The only nobody that had ever interested them was Roxas. And that had been because Roxas bore a—

Axel readied himself to fight, but when he reached to summon his weapons—the chakrams, Zexion whispered, he had borne as the Flurry of Dancing Flames—he brought a keyblade to his hands instead. It looked like his chakrams joined together into one weapon, so much so that someone who knew less about keyblades than Ienzo wouldn't have been able to tell its true nature… but the heartless knew what it was instinctively. Their movement was jerky and erratic. They focused on Axel, completely intent but also hesitant. The keyblade was both alluring and repulsive to them. It had the power to destroy them, but with the keyblade came a powerful heart, one that might finally satiate them.

But Axel had no heart. He was a Nobody. The keyblade was a weapon of the heart, so how could it be wielded by a Nobody? Roxas had tormented Xemnas with that question, but the Superior never found the answer. Ienzo, though, was beginning to suspect what it might be.

There was more to keyblades than anyone had ever guessed. Ienzo had been playing with the hearts left behind from Xemnas' machinations, sure that they would help him figure out what he was missing. This encounter with Axel just brought him one step closer. He could feel that he was so near to understanding—it was the feeling of a word at the tip of one's tongue, so close, but just out of reach.

Today, he felt, he would find the answer.

* * *

**author's note**

I have one more chapter for this story written. I don't plan to continue it beyond that unless there is interest in it. So if you'd like to see where it goes, please review. And in case anyone was confused by the headings, the first bit took place just after Chain of Memories, the second shortly after the end of KH2.


	2. one : rupture

**one: r**upture

"_He… was the only one I liked…. He made me feel… like I had a heart." _

That familiar lost, floating feeling. It wasn't dark… but it wasn't light. Just… gray. Was this nonexistence? He remembered this.

"_It's kind of… funny…. You make me feel… the same…" _

Feeling returned to his limbs so slowly it hardly registered. One moment he was floating… and then he felt hard ground against his side, trapping his arm beneath him, and stone against his back. Cold seeped into his bones. And the… scent. He knew it. Too well.

_I'm back._

With a groan, he opened his eyes and pushed himself upright. _Silly me, I thought maybe this time I would be gone for good._ It was dark, and darker for the hood drawn over his head; when he reached up to pull it back, he felt a sharp pain in his arm and the tingling of feeling returning. A mist of rain pressed in against his face, softening the harsh neon glare of the empty city into a hazy glow. The World That Never Was—it was as dark as he remembered. His eyes found their way up to the sky, to the odd moon that hung there.

Clearly he had been—dead?—for longer than he'd realized. Last he'd been here, the heart-shaped moon had been all but complete, but something had happened in his absence; now the center had gone dark and empty, only the hearts forming the outer edges of the moon still remaining. What could have happened?

_Sora._ Naturally. Axel smirked to himself—clearly Sora had raised hell for the Organization. A boy after his own heart. Well… if he'd had one.

The icy, invasive feeling of darkness creeping toward him brought his gaze snapping down from the sky to the pools of shadow forming around him in the alley. Heartless. Clearly his arrival had not gone unnoticed; Axel could only guess that someone had sent the heartless after him. They rose from the rain-slick alley floor, leering at him, their movement disjointed and their golden gaze penetrating. He felt the tendrils of darkness creeping in, their whispered reminders of all his evils and faults, and felt the familiar fire rising to his defense from his core. It burned away their icy black murmurs.

For a long moment none of them approached, but then the first one took a hesitant step, and then they were all preparing to leap. Axel felt fire burn down the nerves in his arms, almost painful, as he summoned his chakrams to the fight—

But it wasn't quite chakrams that answered his call. It looked like his chakrams, but it was a single weapon, as if they had been welded together. And it felt stronger, lighter… as if it was a part of something bigger, not just a part of himself as the chakrams had been.

The precious seconds he spent staring incredulously at the weapon in his hands almost cost him his life—_But what would it matter? Apparently I would just come back again_—before he came to his senses and swung the blade in a flaming arc at the heartless springing toward him. The first one caught in the blade's path dissolved into shadow; the others gave an agonized screech he only heard in his head and fell back, but already the next wave was on him.

He swung again and again, getting a feel for the blade. It was different from using the chakrams, but felt nearly as natural. And it was more powerful against these creatures, cutting through them like light through darkness.

But despite the weapon's power, the waves of heartless kept coming one after another, until Axel felt fatigue in every joint and muscle. _I must've pissed someone off pretty bad,_ he thought.

If he could just clear a space wide enough to…. He kept slashing at the shadow creatures, in his mind calling on that in-between power of travel. The dark portal formed a pace ahead of him. He used the blade to clear the way, and then he dove forward, letting the darkness envelope him.

- **xxx** -

Sometimes, watching Sora like this, Riku wished he'd been braver back in the beginning, when he still had a chance. Sora was light and alive, splashing through the water as he tried to catch a fish with his bare hands. He used to be so good at it, but he was out of practice, and the fish were wise to his intentions. But the waves of water droplets he sent up glistened in the sunlight, haloing his body in a way that made Riku ache. He was all darkness where Sora was light. They could never meet; they only existed in contrast, and where one went the other retreated.

No, they didn't belong together. Sora wanted Kairi, and their light shone brightly together. Sometimes he was afraid they would blot him and his darkness out altogether.

Sora straightened and began wading back to shore. At first Riku thought he'd simply grown bored of the fish outsmarting him, but the strange expression on his face brought Riku to his feet. Sora put a fist to his heart, his brow furrowed with—discomfort? Confusion? Pain?

"What's going on?" Riku asked, meeting Sora at the edge of the water just as the tide receded from around the boy's feet. Riku grabbed Sora's shoulders when it looked like he might fall, but Sora just shook his head as if to say he was alright and pulled away from Riku to move further up the beach and sit in the sand. "You okay?"

"I feel something weird," Sora explained. "I dunno. Something here." He tapped his fist against his chest. He closed his eyes, his expression tightening. "It's getting worse."

Riku noticed a dull throbbing at the base of his skull and deep in his chest—barely there, but he was sure it was related to what Sora felt. But he didn't have time to say anything before Sora convulsed in the sand with a low moan—

And a breath later, stretched out opposite Sora in the sand was… Roxas. Riku stared for just a moment before moving to Sora's side and helping him to his feet. Sora was breathless but unharmed; he stared at Roxas, stunned, and Roxas stared back.

Roxas recovered first. Sand flew to the sides as he shoved himself to his feet, and then he turned and summoned a dark portal. Before he could step through, though, Sora murmured, "Roxas…"

Roxas met his clear blue eyes, his expression almost apologetic. "It's a second chance."

With that, he stepped through the portal and was gone.

- **xxx** -

It was over an hour before Axel was finally sure he'd shaken heartless pursuit, and he could only conclude that someone was extraordinarily anxious to see him dead.

Curiosity drew him to Proof of Existence the moment he was able. He had to see how much damage Sora had done. But when he arrived, he suddenly realized that he had never given Sora the credit he deserved—because whatever he'd expected, it wasn't this. Only two markers remained active: Axel's and Roxas'. Zexion's had been demolished since Castle Oblivion, but now three others were, as well. The rest were red. Dead.

For a moment Axel wondered if his own marker had been red while he was in oblivion… but then he was making his way to Roxas' marker. Number XIII. The Key of Destiny. Sora's shell. He'd found Roxas in Sora's eyes. He'd suspected, but he couldn't believe it until he saw it. Roxas was whole. He supposed he should be happier—it was what every Nobody wanted, to be whole. But Axel had always been content with Roxas, almost as if he was complete, a Somebody. What was left for him now?

He stood close to the marker, his boots touching the twin keyblades, and started to reach for the stone, but thought twice. _Skin,_ he thought, and he removed a glove, pressing his palm flat against the blue glow. _Roxas._

A dark portal formed… and then Roxas was there.

* * *

**author's note**

So this is the last of what I already had written. I've been considering writing this story for about two years, but I wasn't sure I wanted to commit to it. If there's anyone who cares to see where this story goes, I'll have to make it a point to continue it. Interested? Please review!


	3. two : separation

**two: s**eparation

Sora must have stared at the spot where Roxas had vanished for at least a minute. How could he leave like that? He'd thought Roxas was happy to be whole again. The tide rolled in over his feet, pulling sand away with it as it left, and he shook his head but couldn't seem to clear it.

"Something big changed," Riku said, and Sora's eyes followed his voice instinctively. Riku stood in the sand with his head bowed, his fingers tangled in his silver hair. Even slouching he was taller than Sora. "I thought this was all over!" His hands whipped down, curling into fists at his sides. The stiff way he stood, the look on his face, surprised Sora.

The surprise cleared his head. "Don't worry, Riku! We'll go after him. He was probably just surprised. He'll change his mind. We'll just go find him."

Riku shook his head and met Sora's eyes. "With what gummi ship? And even if we had one, the paths between worlds are closed again."

Riku looked so... upset. Sora stepped up next to him and put a hand on his shoulder, smiling. "It's okay, Riku. It's only been a couple months. It's probably just an aftershock or something like that. Or some weird fluke. You know me, it's probably just something stupid like an allergic reaction. We can use a boat, like in King Mickey's letter. He said the ocean would always be a door between worlds. We'll find Roxas that way, no big deal."

"That would take forever," Riku said. He let his breath out in a rush. "And it's not just you. I felt it too." He laughed a little, but it was dark, not like his old laugh. "It's never something simple." He looked past Sora, and his smile disappeared.

Sora turned to look. Kairi was coming down the beach--and she had Naminé with her. They jogged side by side, but they kept a careful distance apart. Kairi looked almost as stressed as Riku did. Sora frowned--of course Naminé wouldn't leave. Roxas was like Sora: all adventures and screw-ups. Naminé was like Kairi: pretty darn close to perfect. "Sora!" Kairi said when she got close. She was a little breathless. "This just--I felt this weird pounding, and then Naminé just appeared! I was worried Roxas..."

"He did, too," Sora said. He rolled his eyes. "But he ran off."

"What? Why?" Kairi asked, her blue eyes wide.

Naminé shook her head and took two steps back. "Oh no... of course... Roxas..." She hesitated, then turned and waved her hand. A dark portal bloomed beside her.

"Hey!" Sora said. "Naminé, wait!"

"What are you doing?" Kairi asked, and her voice was weird--harsher than Sora could ever remember hearing it.

"I have to go after him," Namine said, and she took a step toward the portal.

"Wait," Riku said. His voice was calm. It was nice having him around again to be the calm head in a situation. "We're going to go find him, but we shouldn't split up."

She shook her head. "I'll be faster alone." She paused, gave them one last look, and added, "Don't worry." Then she stepped through the portal. Kairi jumped toward it, but it closed too fast.

"Man," Sora complained.

"What do we do now?" Kairi asked. She sounded kind of sad.

"Don't worry," Sora told her, smiling wide to cheer her up. "We'll just build a raft. There are pathways on the ocean, we can find one. It'll be like old times! Building a raft together!"

But Kairi and Riku were both shaking their heads. "We might have to," Riku said. "But I doubt it'll be fast enough."

"Fast enough for what?" Sora said. He moved up the beach and sat down to put on his shoes. "I was separated from Roxas for months before. It doesn't hurt anything."

"Something big happened to separate you guys from Roxas and Naminé again. I don't have a good feeling about it."

"Something like what?" Sora brushed off his feet and pulled his socks on, but he kept his eyes on Riku while he worked.

The sound of engines stopped Riku just as he opened his mouth to answer. Sora twisted in the sand and looked up. At first he couldn't see anything because of the sun, but then he made out two blocky shapes falling toward them. "Whoa!" He rolled down the beach, out of the way, but when he looked back he realized it was just two gummi ships landing.

The closer one was bigger and made of red, black, and yellow blocks. The one behind it was familiar--"Highwind!" Sora said. Then the door of the bigger one opened, and King Mickey hopped out, his keyblade over his shoulder. Sora couldn't help the huge smile on his face, seeing the little king again. And, even better--behind him were Donald and Goofy. "King Mickey! Donald! Goofy!"

"Heya Sora!" King Mickey said. Donald and Goofy waved from behind him. "Wish I could say this is just a friendly visit, but it looks like there's big trouble!"

"We know," Riku said. It was weird, but Riku actually knew the king better than Sora did. "Roxas and Naminé separated from Sora and Kairi again."

King Mickey looked stunned. "Oh no! Oh... this is worse than I thought..."

"What's wrong?" Sora asked. "What happened?"

"I don't know," the king replied. "But this is probably a clue. I'm sorry to ask you guys, but... Donald, Goofy, and I are going to go check on Kingdom Hearts, and I'd feel better if you looked around and tried to figure this out a little."

"Of course!" Sora said.

"Great!" King Mickey grabbed the side of his gummi ship and put one foot up. "We better get started right away. It might help you guys to start in Twilight Town. If you have Nobodies again, this probably has something to do with them. And Twilight Town is as close to the nobodies as you can get right now."

"Sure." Sora looked back at Riku and Kairi. Kairi still looked a little upset, but Riku was coming around. He sighed and raised an eyebrow at Sora. All that time Sora spent exploring the worlds, kicking heartless and nobody butt, he hadn't had his best friend with him for all but the last couple days of it. It would be awesome to have Riku fighting with him from the beginning this time. Looked like Riku was starting to think about that too.

"Well, good luck, guys," King Mickey said. He swung up into his ship. "We'd better get going."

"Goodbye, Sora," Donald said, and Goofy 'hyucked.' "Wish we could stay longer."

"Yeah, me too," Sora said. It would be weird not having the guys with him, but King Mickey needed them more now that he had Riku again.

The door to King Mickey's gummi ship closed, and it lifted off, climbing up into the sky and then disappearing in a flash of Warp-G.

- **xxx** -

"Roxas," Axel said. It came out weirdly soft, and he cleared his throat, pulling his hand away from Roxas' marker. "What--how are you even here?"

Roxas shrugged, but he was grinning. Axel hadn't seen that grin in--well, so long it kind of ached to think about it. "I don't know. I don't really care, either. It's a second chance!"

"You were whole again!" Axel said. "I saw it when I looked at Sora. Couldn't believe it at first."

He shrugged again, then turned and found a marker to hop up and sit on. That wrought-metal keyblade of his appeared in his hands and he looked over it like he was curious. "It felt great at first," he said. "Fuller than anything I'd felt before. But after a while I noticed there was still something missing." He looked up at Axel, his fingers going still against his keyblade. "I mean, you wouldn't think it would bother me after so long being Nobody, but it's just as annoying to be missing one small piece as it is to be missing the big one."

Axel frowned and leaned back against one of the red markers, crossing his arms over his chest. "What was missing?"

"No idea," Roxas said. "But I guess I stand a better chance at finding out like this than inside Sora's head."

"Hm." Axel looked down at his hands and called to his own weapon. It was still a little strange to feel the way it had changed. It was still hot coiling away from deep in his chest, but it felt at once stronger and lighter. The weapon materialized in his hands, like chakrams welded together.

He heard the catch of Roxas' breath. "Is that?"

Axel looked up. "I think so. I mean, I've never held one. But the heartless reacted to it just the same as yours or Sora's."

Roxas slid down off his impromptu seat and crossed over to Axel, studying the weapon up close. "Where did it come from?" Then he looked up, his brow furrowed. "And hey, how are you here? I thought you--" His words cut off abruptly, but Axel knew what he meant.

"Well. Glad you remembered my heroic death finally." He smiled a little. "I don't know what happened. It's like I fall asleep, and when I wake up everything's gray an unreal at first. But then the world comes back. And a lot more time than a single night has passed. Twice now. It's like I can't die."

"Twice?" Roxas shook his head. "Huh."

"Axel, Roxas," a voice drawled. It sent an electric jolt through Axel; he whipped toward it, struck by its vague familiarity. It belonged to a short man with light gray hair. He was flanked by three other men. All of them looked... strangely familiar, but also like complete strangers. "Good to see you again."

"Again?" Axel said with a laugh. He kept his voice casual, amused, but his nerves were taut. There was something that was... off about this. "I think you're wrong, friend. I don't remember ever meeting you."

Roxas' keyblade was out again, but he let it hang beside him casually as he watched the four strangers. He was close enough that Axel could feel the heat of him. It occurred to him that he hadn't been this close to Roxas in over a year. In a way, they'd both died and been resurrected since then.

"Not exactly," the short man said. "But I'm surprised you don't see it." He paused expectantly, like Axel would suddenly come up with the answer to his riddle. "You knew me--or, well, my counterpart. My Nobody. Zexion."

Axel's breath stilled. Pointed out that way, he could see it. The distinct similarities, but also contrasts that distinguished a Nobody from his former, whole self. Give him... longer, darker hair and darker eyes, and this man would be a mirror image of Zexion. And the others with him: Luxord, but with slightly longer, lighter hair and a clean-shaven face; Xigbar, but without the scars, patch, and white-streaked hair; and Saïx, but without his scar and with his blue hair spiked into a mohawk.

Roxas put voice to Axel's disbelief. "You're dead. I was with Sora when he killed you. You can't be whole."

"No," mirror-Zexion agreed. "We aren't whole. We're Wraiths. We're... Heartless, but with the memories of our Nobodies. I'm Ienzo."

Mirror-Saïx lifted two fingers. "Vane." His grin was chilling. The look on his face was one Saïx had only worn rarely, when he went berserk.

"Braig," mirror-Xigbar volunteered.

"Lourd." Mirror-Luxord smiled and bowed his head.

Axel shook his head. "No way. Not possible." When he looked over, Roxas was silent, but he looked just as disbelieving.

Ienzo shrugged. "No more impossible than Xemnas existing after Xehanort was destroyed. But believe what you want. What's important right now is that we can help each other."

Axel snorted. It was a gut-reaction, but he welcomed it. It helped him rein his reactions back in. He crossed his arms over his chest and made sure his skepticism was clear on his face. "I'm not in much need of help right now."

"You'd be surprised," Ienzo replied. "The heartless are fixated on you. Because of those." He pointed to their keyblades. Axel didn't like the look of his smile. "I'm doing... ah, a bit of research on keyblades. Old habits die hard, you know. Give me a chance to study your weapons and I might be able to make you less attractive to the heartless. Shouldn't take long, I think... a couple days at most."

Axel exchanged a glance with Roxas. The look of suspicion transparent on his friend's face was enough for him. "Thanks, but no thanks, guys," he said with a dry smile. "We can handle ourselves."

The atmosphere changed almost imperceptibly. The four strangers' stances grew more rigid. There was a tension between them that threatened to break. Axel took one more look at Roxas, waved a dark portal into existence, and then waved. He didn't have to say a word. Roxas leapt for the portal at the same moment he did.

The darkness constricted tight around them, compressing all Axel's organs into one another. Matter became almost intangible, enough that he and Roxas blended together for the space of a breath, and then they were tumbling out onto the beach of Twilight Town.

"Looks like I missed a lot while I was dead," Axel said.

Roxas put a hand on the back of his head and laughed. "It's not just you. Something big changed."

"You know..." Axel looked Roxas up and down. The sand already crusting to his legs. The sunset glow painting him in soft color. "I'm not worried about it."

* * *

**author's note**

Wrote a new chapter! Feels great. I haven't been writing much productive lately, so it's a nice change. This is kind of a... not a filler chapter, but a "this is necessary to get from A to B" chapter. Should get more fun from here, I'm hoping.


	4. three : change

**three: c**hange

Kairi was sulking. Riku might have found it more amusing if he wasn't so annoyed. Even Sora agreed that it would be better for her to stay behind on the islands--she would be safer, and she could cover for them with their parents. Especially since Riku had been unable to duplicate the keyblade he'd given her to use back at The Castle That Never Was--and she certainly couldn't summon her own. She might be capable of handling one, but that didn't make her a keyblade master.

Still, they hadn't been able to convince her to stay behind. And even though she'd gotten her way, she still sulked. Typical girl. Sora kept darting glances her way, but he wasn't sure how to handle a moody girl, so he stayed up front with Chip and Dale to 'help' them navigate.

Riku cradled Way to the Dawn in his hands as he leaned against the ship wall, his legs stretched out in front of him until his feet nearly touched the other side. It wasn't a very big ship, and Riku was still getting taller. His keyblade seemed to have grown with him; he hadn't summoned it in weeks, so it might have been his imagination, but he thought it still felt the same in his hands even though he'd grown taller and stronger. He rested it in his lap and ran his fingers along it, glancing up at Kairi.

She might be sulking because they didn't want her alone when she had no way of defending herself, but it gave Riku more to worry about than just her safety--as if that wasn't enough. But he couldn't help wondering: What had changed since The Castle That Never Was? Why could he pull a second keyblade out of his core then but not now?

Was the darkness creeping back into his heart?

"Land ho!" Sora cried. His smile was obvious in his voice. "Twilight Town off the starboard bow!"

Riku climbed to his feet, letting Way to the Dawn dissolve, and joined Sora at the forward window. "You mean port," he said, taking in Twilight Town below them on the left.

"Starboard sounds better," Sora explained.

The sprawl of Twilight Town below made Riku's stomach knot. It made everything real. He remembered watching Roxas here (rather, in an identical digital replica), making sure Ansem's plan was coming together--guiding Roxas back to Sora so he could make his friend whole again. Sora, shattered into pieces of memory and fragments of being by the Nobodies at Castle Oblivion. Twilight Town was a good place to start; it was a meeting ground at the edge of twilight, and each of them had been here before, even Kairi.

As if she heard his thought, Kairi's arm brushed against his as she joined them at the window. Her sullen mood had vanished, replaced by a smile. "What are we waiting for?" she asked.

"Send us down," Sora told Chip and Dale.

"Can do!" one of the chipmunks replied; Riku couldn't really tell them apart. They worked at their controls, and the ship dissolved around them in a wave of green light. When the light unfurled from around them, they were in a cramped leg off an alley furnished with shabby chairs and end tables, posters, and even a dartboard. Riku remembered it as the hangout spot of some of the local kids.

"I wonder where Hayner, Pence, and Olette are?" Sora said, looking around with a bright smile. He was so easily distracted--he made friends so easily, and of course he wanted to see them again. As far as he was concerned, that could be the whole reason they were here. It was one of his best qualities and one of his worst.

"I hardly got to meet them," Kairi said as she looked around. "I was a little distracted running from that guy... Axel."

Sora nodded, hesitated, and then asked, "What do you think we should look for?"

Riku frowned. "I'm not sure. Changes? Nobodies coming back to town? Whatever it is, we won't find it hanging around here." He turned and headed for the exit.

"Right," Sora agreed. Riku heard two sets of footsteps behind him.

He stopped in the alley. He realized very suddenly that he had no idea which way to go. It wasn't that he didn't know where the alley led in either direction; he knew the physical layout of the town. But he didn't know what would be the best place to look for changes. He looked over at Sora and found Kairi doing the same.

"What?" Sora asked, half-defensive.

"You spent the most time here," Kairi said--and while it wasn't technically true, for all intents and purposes it didn't matter that Riku had been here just as often. Sora knew the people here. Riku didn't. "Where do you think we should go?"

Sora put a thumb against his lower lip, pushing it to the side in a way that made him look entirely ridiculous. He turned, scrutinizing the alley. "Mm... I guess the train station." He pointed briefly, then took off running. Riku followed a pace behind Kairi, keeping her safely between them--just in case. "It can take us anywhere we want to go!" he called over his shoulder. "And we can ask there if anything strange has happened around here."

It was surprisingly logical, coming from Sora. He had always been mostly instinct. It reminded Riku how much time they'd spent apart. Sora was growing up. They all were.

But Sora's instincts won out, in the end. Riku turned a corner and nearly ran into Kairi, stopped beside Sora, who was staring away toward the clock tower. His eyebrows were furrowed like he was trying to figure out a difficult math problem. "There," he said, pointing. "I've had dreams about that clock tower."

Riku remembered Roxas spending time on that clock tower with the digital constructs of the Twilight Town kids. Probably Sora's dreams were no more than memories of that, but then, they did need to find Roxas. Maybe he would go back to somewhere familiar. Well, if he was in Twilight Town at all. "Okay, let's take a look," he said.

"This way!" Sora took off, and they followed.

- **xx** -

"Someone's coming," Roxas said, and suddenly every inch of his frame was rigid. He started to climb to his feet, but Axel put a hand on his arm to hold him. Standing at the top of the clock tower wasn't exactly safe.

"Any idea who?" Axel asked.

"It has to be Sora." There was a near-panic to him. It was almost comical, to be afraid of the happy-go-lucky Sora. He was beyond dangerous to heartless and to Nobodies like Xemnas and Xigbar, but he wouldn't harm Roxas. Roxas was a part of himself.

Axel didn't like to see that tension in Roxas, but after running into Ienzo and his other 'Wraiths,' he was wary of running without confronting Sora. Probably best if they warned him. "Relax," he told Roxas. "Let's see what he wants." He pushed himself carefully to his feet, then offered a hand down to Roxas. "Preferably somewhere with better footing."

Roxas nodded and climbed around to the door that led inside the clock tower. "If he touches me, we might"--

"I won't let him. Don't worry." Axel's smile was grim, though Roxas couldn't see it. He'd lost Roxas before. He wasn't about to give up his second chance.

Sora's hair was already visible when they climbed down onto the platform behind the clock face, followed by the rest of him from the staircase that wound up through the clock tower. Behind him were Kairi and Riku--and it was jarring to see Riku again, especially since Axel had spent more time talking to his replica than Riku himself. Sora and Kairi's eyes widened when they saw Axel, but Riku's narrowed.

Axel took a few casual steps that put him between Roxas and the others. "Sora! It's been a while." He smiled, closed-lipped.

"You're dead," Sora said.

Axel shrugged one shoulder. "Not anymore." Riku took a step toward him--he didn't have time to think before he felt the weight of his keyblade in his hand.

All three of them froze. "That's--" But Sora stopped as if unable to complete his thought.

"Yeah." Axel spun his keyblade once and rested it over his shoulder. "A lot has changed."

"Is Naminé with you?" Kairi asked in a quiet voice.

Axel felt Roxas stiffen behind him. "What do you mean?" He pushed past Axel, his eyes locked on Kairi. "Is Naminé free too?"

The glance Sora and Riku exchanged was subtle, but Axel didn't miss it. It made his chest heat. Roxas had every right to feel free--what kind of life must it be, locked inside Sora's head? His grip tightened around the hilt of his keyblade, but he forced calm into his breath.

"She separated from me, too," Kairi said. "She went looking for you."

Roxas' sharp intake of breath snapped Axel's eyes to his face. "Ienzo," he said, quietly enough that only Axel could hear. And even in the split second before Axel understood, he felt his chest tighten. Naminé was just clever enough to try The Castle That Never Was, and just stupid enough to walk herself right into Ienzo's hands. Of course Roxas would be terrified of this. Of course it mattered to him. It made Axel's jaw clench tight, his teeth grind. "We have to go find her!"

"Roxas, wait!" Sora called, but it didn't matter. Roxas called a dark portal. Axel felt the heat of Roxas' hand around his elbow, and then he was pulled through the portal behind his friend.

The darkness spit them out in The World That Never Was. Rain misted around them, turning the sharp neon to a softer glow. Axel drew a breath hissing through his teeth, then let it out. He wanted badly to ask why they had to go after Naminé, to pretend he believed she never would have made it this far.

But she was important to Roxas, and she was innocent--or as innocent as she could be, considering what she'd been through. Axel knew this better than anyone. He'd been one of those to manipulate her into altering Sora's memories, planting herself in his heart, and she'd resisted the idea a long time. But the pull for a Nobody to try to become whole was a difficult one to resist, and for her it was compounded by her genuine connection to Sora as Kairi's Nobody.

Yes, she was innocent. But as Axel followed Roxas into a sprint toward The Castle That Never Was, he couldn't help the hot anger he felt because of the connection the two shared.

* * *

**author's note**

I like this chapter a lot more than the last. Partly because I don't really like writing Sora's perspective that much, but more, I think, because I needed to get back into the rhythm of it. Anyway, I appreciate any reviews!


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